Bipartisan Plan for Climate Geo-engineering Proposed
The New York Times is reporting that the D.C.-based Bipartiscan Policy Center is releasing a new study developed by an 18-member panel of researchers and policy wonks calling for research on ways to cool the planet down through geo-engineering, or as they prefer to call it, climate remediation. From the Times:
Members said they hoped that such extreme engineering techniques, which include scattering particles in the air to mimic the cooling effect of volcanoes or stationing orbiting mirrors in space to reflect sunlight, would never be needed. But in its report, to be released on Tuesday, the panel said it is time to begin researching and testing such ideas in case "the climate system reaches a 'tipping point' and swift remedial action is required.
The Times further notes:
In fact, it is an idea that many environmental groups have rejected as misguided and potentially dangerous….
Some climate experts have been working on [the idea of climate engineering] for years, but they have largely kept their discussions to themselves, saying they feared giving the impression that there might be quick fixes for climate change.
Last week, various environmental activist groups urged the British government to stop a minor experiment in which British researchers plan to hoist a hose via helium ballons into the air and spew out water droplets. This experiment would be a very preliminary step toward evaluating a proposal to cool down the planet by injecting sulfur particles high into the stratosphere where they would reflect sunlight back into space. In case man-made global warming actually comes on faster than currently projected, no options for dealing with it should be off the table.
